Fever vs. Sparks: Kelsey Mitchell Scores 26 as Indiana Rolls to a 111-87 Win Without Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark sat on Saturday night. Kelsey Plum sat too. Only one of those absences turned out to matter, and it wasn't the one in Indiana.

Kelsey Mitchell scored 26 on 13 shots and the Indiana Fever beat the Los Angeles Sparks 111-87 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, a game that stayed competitive for about as long as it takes to find your seat. Indiana led by as many as 35. And two nights after Toronto scored 125 on them, the Sparks became the first team in league history to give up 110-plus points in back-to-back games, a fact that should come with a warning label.

A Close Game, Briefly

Los Angeles actually held a two-point lead at one point early on. Enjoy it, because it was the only good news the box score has for the Sparks. Indiana took the first quarter 27-21, and then the second quarter arrived and the visitors stopped guarding anybody in particular. The Fever won it 30-16, including a 9-0 run that turned 42-31 into 51-31 in under two and a half minutes. It was 57-37 at the half.

The Sparks came out of the locker room needing a statement. They got one, just not from their own side. Indiana had scored the last two points of the first half and then went on to score the first eight of the third, a 10-0 run that made it 65-37 with 8:21 still on the clock. Mitchell took it from there, hitting two 3s and adding a three-point play as part of a 13-point quarter. The Fever scored 32 in the period and led 89-58 going to the fourth, by which point the only real suspense was what the final margin would be.

Los Angeles won the fourth 29-22 thanks to a late 8-0 run against the Fever's reserves, with Emma Cannon scoring all six of her points in that stretch. Eight different Fever players scored in the quarter, per the team, and Bree Hall, who made her season debut late in the third, finished with five.

Everybody Ate

Mitchell was the headliner: 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting, 4-of-6 from 3, a perfect 4-of-4 at the line, and a plus-30 in 26 minutes. According to the Fever, it was her 121st career game with at least 20 points, tying Brittney Griner for 15th most in WNBA history, and her four 3s brought her to 716 for her career. She didn't force a single thing all night, which is a pretty good way to fill in for a teammate averaging 21.2 points and 8.2 assists.

Aliyah Boston did her work early, posting 15 of her 17 points and all seven of her rebounds before halftime. The Fever say she's just the third player in franchise history to score at least 15 in a half without missing a shot from the field, from 3 or from the line. She finished 5-of-6 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the stripe with three blocks in only 21 minutes.

Tyasha Harris got the start in Clark's spot, and she made it count. Her 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting beat her previous season high of seven, and she added five rebounds and three assists without committing a single foul. Monique Billings scored 15 to match her season high, and her plus-38 is a franchise record for plus-minus, according to the team, passing Anna DeForge's plus-36 from 2006. Sophie Cunningham scored nine off the bench, and Lexie Hull had seven rebounds and three assists to go with five points.

Nneka Ogwumike led Los Angeles with 17 and grabbed seven rebounds. Dearica Hamby's 15 came with six fouls and a brutal minus-37. Ariel Atkins added 12 on 5-of-8 shooting, and Rae Burrell scored 11 but needed 15 shots. With Plum, second in the league at 23.9 points per game, expected to miss at least four weeks because of a left leg injury, there just wasn't enough on the roster to absorb a night like this.

Ten Straight Around the Break

The game was effectively over with 8:21 left in the third. A 20-point halftime lead can still be interesting. A 28-point lead with more than eight minutes left in the period is a different conversation, and that 10-0 run took the Sparks from hopeful to checking on the bus.

It also showed what really separated these teams. Indiana was better in every way that requires effort. The Fever outscored Los Angeles 20-8 on the break, beat them 41-25 on the glass and spent the whole night at the free-throw line. The one column the Sparks won was points off turnovers, 19-6, and when your best number is the one that only exists because the other team got careless, you're not exactly dictating terms.

Tale of the Tape

• 10-of-19 vs. 4-of-20: The 3-point gap, worth 18 points on its own.
• 27-of-33: Indiana at the line. Los Angeles took 21 free throws.
• 41-25: Fever rebounding edge, with 32 on the defensive end.
• 20-8: Fast-break points.
• 7: Times Indiana has hit 100 this season, the most in the league, the team noted.

Different Directions

Indiana is 11-8 and 8-4 at home, bouncing back from a 111-109 home loss to Phoenix on Wednesday. Coach Stephanie White says Clark's back injury shouldn't keep her out long, and the schedule helps: the Fever don't play again until July 5 in Las Vegas.

Los Angeles falls to 8-10 and 5-4 on the road, with consecutive losses by 28 and 24 points. The Sparks host Seattle on July 6, and they need that break even more than Indiana does.

Groundhog Day in Two Cities

Two games, two nights apart, and the same movie both times: wake up, get on the floor, give up 110-plus, go to sleep, repeat. Bill Murray eventually got out of that loop by learning something. The Sparks now have more than a week to figure out what their version of that looks like.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the Indiana Fever. Context as reported by the Associated Press.